Disney Adventure World: the second park, rebranded in 2026

Disney Adventure World is the second park at Disneyland Paris, located in the Val d’Europe area of Marne-la-Vallée, in Seine-et-Marne.

The park opened on 16 March 2002 as Walt Disney Studios Park, ten years after Disneyland Park. It was renamed Disney Adventure World on 29 March 2026, when the World of Frozen land opened.

Plans for a second park go back to the mid-1990s. The first version, due in 1996 under the name Disney-MGM Studios Europe, was cancelled because of the financial crisis Euro Disney was going through. Work started again in 1997 on a smaller scale, with the park borrowing the concept of Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort. When it opened in 2002, the park had only nine attractions on around 50 ha, half the size of Disneyland Park. French stuntman Rémy Julienne was among the first European designers to work on the project.

On 27 February 2018, at the Élysée Palace, Robert Iger announced a €2 billion investment in Disneyland Paris, including doubling the size of the park with three themed areas. With this expansion, the park now covers around 50 ha. Today it has 13 attractions, 19 restaurants and 11 shops.

The park is laid out around several lands. World Premiere Plaza is the entrance area, a redesign of Front Lot and Studio 1, home to the Place des Frères Lumière and its fountain of Mickey as the sorcerer’s apprentice. Adventure Way is an Art Nouveau style walkway leading to Adventure Bay, a man-made lake of almost 3 hectares. Worlds of Pixar, created in 2021 from Toon Studio, brings together the Pixar attractions, including Crush’s Coaster, Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, Cars Road Trip, Ratatouille : L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy and the Toy Story Playland area (RC Racer, Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin). Marvel Avengers Campus, which opened on 20 July 2022 in place of Backlot, offers Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (a makeover of Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster) and Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure. World of Frozen, which opened on 29 March 2026, is inspired by Arendelle and features a mountain almost 40 metres high and Elsa’s castle.

The headline rides include The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, which opened in 2007 in the Hollywood Boulevard area, with its lift drop from the 13th floor. The park also has several shows: Mickey and the Magician since 2016, TOGETHER: A Pixar Musical Adventure since summer 2023, Stitch Live and Minnie’s Dream Factory. The Disney Cascade of Lights night-time show has been performed every evening on Adventure Bay since 29 March 2026.

In 2023, it welcomed 5.7 million visitors, making it the third most visited park in Europe and the 20th in the world. A ride themed on Up and a future Lion King land are currently under construction.

The park is designed as a journey through the great Disney worlds, laid out around Adventure Bay lake, which now shapes how you get around. From the entrance through World Premiere Plaza, you move from one land to the next, each built around a franchise. The guiding idea of the park since its 2026 rebrand: inviting you to become an adventurer yourself, with every land offering a mission or a story to take part in, a complete break from the original concept of film studios watched from a distance.

Sustainability. The park takes care of its footprint: the large lake is fed by rainwater, the green spaces are watered with recycled water and managed by irrigation sensors, heat from the refrigeration units is used for hot water, and heating relies on a geothermal network and a heat pump that produces heating and cooling at the same time.

The park in numbers, pulled together from across the site for an ultra-quick visual summary.

Disneyland Paris’s second park opened on 16 March 2002 as Walt Disney Studios Park, themed around Hollywood film studios. Inspired by Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando (1989), it was meant to encourage longer stays at the resort by adding a second park in Marne-la-Vallée.

Criticised from day one for its small number of rides, the park was expanded in several waves: Crush’s Coaster and Cars Quatre Roues Rallye in 2007, Tower of Terror in December 2007, Toy Story Playland in 2010, then Ratatouille in 2014. In February 2018, Disneyland Paris announced a huge expansion plan with three new lands inspired by Frozen, Marvel and Star Wars.

The park was rebranded Disney Adventure World on 29 March 2026, with the opening of the new World of Frozen land around the Adventure Bay lake, alongside the growth of Marvel Avengers Campus (since 2022), Worlds of Pixar and Adventure Way (Tangled). This new direction is a complete break from the original studio theme.

When it opened in 2002 as Walt Disney Studios, the park was based on Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando (1989). The new World of Frozen land, which opened in 2026, is the French version of the land of the same name at Hong Kong Disneyland (2023), while the redesign around a central lake is a little reminiscent of Tokyo DisneySea (2001).

If you’re spending several days at the resort, do Disney Adventure World on day 2, after discovering Disneyland Park. From day 3, you can move freely between the two parks as you please: you’ll know them well enough to find your way around easily. If you want to do both parks in a single day, plan to spend mid-afternoon and early evening here instead, and finish with the night-time show at the park of your choice.